Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson (April 21, 1855 – January 14, 1931), also known as "Hardie" and "Old True Blue", was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1875 to 1892 with a brief minor league comeback in 1898. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, playing at every position, including 585 games at second base, 544 games in the outfield, and 178 games at third base. Richardson played for six major league teams, with his longest stretches having been for the Buffalo Bisons (1879–1885), Detroit Wolverines (1886–1888) and Boston Reds (1890–91).
Richardson appeared in 1,334 major league games, compiled a .299 batting average and .437 slugging percentage, and totaled 1,127 runs scored, 1,694 hits, 305 doubles, 126 triples, 73 home runs, 828 RBIs, and 377 bases on balls. From 1881 to 1888, he was part of the "Big Four", a group of renowned batters (the others being Dan Brouthers, Jack Rowe, and Deacon White) who played together in Buffalo and Detroit and led Detroit to the National League pennant and 1887 World Series championship.
Early years
Richardson was born in 1855 at Clarksboro, which is located in the existing municipality of East Greenwich Township, New Jersey. His father, Robert D. Richardson, was a New Jersey native who worked in 1870 as a house carpenter. His mother, Naomi (Jones) Richardson, was a Pennsylvania native.
Professional baseball player
Minor leagues
Richardson began playing organized baseball with semipro teams in South Jersey and Philadelphia in the early 1870s. In 1875, he played at third base and catcher for the Gloucester City, New Jersey club. For a portion of the 1876 season, he played with the Philadelphias, but that team disbanded in July 1876. In 1878, he played for the Utica, New York club in the International Association for Professional Base Ball Players.
In 1882, and despite his solid defensive performance in the outfield, Richardson switched positions for the second time in as many years. This time, he was moved to second base, where he played 83 games. Richardson handled the move reasonably well, as he led the league's second basemen with 275 putouts and ranked second with a 6.69 range factor and 63 errors. He also hit .271, earned a 2.2 WAR rating and ranked fourth in the league with 57 RBIs.
The "Big Four"
From 1881 to 1888, Richardson was one of four Buffalo (later Detroit) infielders with Dan Brouthers, Jack Rowe, and Deacon White who were known in baseball as the "Big Four." The "Big Four" played together for eight years and were "regarded for many years as the greatest quartette in the history of the national pastime." The Sporting News later wrote; "How the Big Four was admired! Even in hostile cities the fans praised them in the next breath after they had jeered them."
Richardson remained the Bisons' second baseman in 1883, playing all 92 of his games at the position. His 4.1 WAR rating in 1883 was the second highest in his career and the ninth highest among the National League's position players. He ranked among the league leaders with a .311 batting average (10th), .347 on-base percentage (9th), 34 doubles (5th), 42 extra base hits (9th), and 146 times on base (9th). Defensively, he led the league's second basemen with a career high 6.88 range factor, and ranked second at the position in assists (344) and putouts (289). However, he also ranked second at the position with a career high 68 errors.
During the 1884 season, Richardson played 71 games at second base and 24 in the outfield, as the "Big Four" led Buffalo to a third place finish and a 64–47 (.577) record – the highest winning percentage in the club's history. All four players had outstanding seasons, combining for an 18.6 WAR rating. The chart below tracks the WAR rating of the "Big Four" during their eight seasons together.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="15%" | Year
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="16%" | Brouthers
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="16%" | Richardson
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="16%" | White
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="16%" | Total WAR
|- align="center"
| 1881 ||2.5 ||2.5 ||2.8 ||1.2 ||9.0
|- align="center"
| 1882 ||5.9 ||2.2 ||2.7 ||1.2 ||12.0
|- align="center"
| 1883 ||5.8 ||4.1 ||1.9 ||1.1 ||12.9
|- align="center"
| 1884 ||5.4 ||3.7 ||4.6 ||4.9 ||18.6
|- align="center"
| 1885 ||5.2 ||3.2 ||2.2 ||2.1 ||12.7
|- align="center"
| 1886 ||8.2 ||7.0 ||4.2 ||2.7 ||22.1
|- align="center"
| 1887 ||5.3 ||3.8 ||4.1 ||2.3 ||15.5
|- align="center"
| 1888 ||6.6 ||2.1 ||2.6 ||3.4 ||14.7
|- align="center"
| Total ||44.8 ||28.6 ||25.1 ||19.1||117.6
|}
Richardson was involved in another unusual circumstance in a game against the Chicago White Stockings on August 13, 1884. Chicago's George Gore was instructed by player-manager Cap Anson to avoid the double play. When the next batter hit a ground ball, Gore tackled Richardson at second base before he could complete the relay throw. The umpire called both the batter and the runner out, and Anson protested the ruling and refused to resume play, leading the umpire to declare the game forfeited to Buffalo. The two teams then agreed to resume a game which had been postponed earlier in the season, as a way of placating the dissatisfied fans. In the later game, Anson decided to demonstrate of the right way to break up the double play. He reached first base, and when the next batter hit a ground ball to Richardson, Anson waved his arms while running to second in an effort to interfere with Richardson's throw. Possibly flustered by this display, Richardson in turn struck Anson square in the head with his throw, which was delivered hard enough that it bounced all the way into the grandstands. A woozy Anson was forced to leave the game.
During the 1885 season, Richardson split his time between second base (50 games) and outfield (48 games), and even appeared in one game as a pitcher – compiling a 2.25 earned run average in four innings pitched. He ranked among the league leaders with a .319 batting average (4th), .458 slugging percentage (4th), 11 triples (7th), six home runs (7th), 195 total bases (7th), 90 runs scored (8th), and 3.9 Offensive WAR rating (8th).
The merger of the Detroit and Buffalo line-ups turned two losing teams (Buffalo was 38-74 in 1885, Detroit 41-67) into one of the best in the game. With the addition of the "Big Four", the Wolverines improved substantially, finishing in second place with an 85-38 record. For Richardson, the 1886 season was the best of his career with a 7.0 WAR rating – the fourth highest among the National League's position players. He led the league with 189 hits and 11 home runs and was among the league leaders with a .351 batting average (5th), .402 on-base percentage (6th), .504 slugging percentage (4th), 125 runs scored (4th), 271 total bases (3rd), 27 doubles (7th), 11 triples (8th), 49 extra base hits (4th), and 42 stolen bases (4th). He also had the second highest ratio of at bats to strikeouts at 48.9. In an article published in 1911, Richardson called the 1887 Detroit team "one of the grandest collection of hitters ever seen together." Richardson contributed another strong season, splitting his playing time between second base (64 games) and outfield (59 games), and compiling a 3.8 WAR rating. He was again among the league leaders with a .328 batting average (6th), 131 runs scored (3rd), 178 hits (3rd), 263 total bases (3rd), 18 triples (6th), 94 RBIs (7th), and 51 extra base hits (9th). Richardson's playing time was limited to 58 games at second base, and his batting average and WAR rating to .289 and 2.1 – Richardson's lowest numbers since 1880. With high salaries owed to the team's star players, and gate receipts declining markedly, the team folded in October 1888 with the players being sold to other teams. On October 16, 1888, the Wolverines sold Richardson along with Charlie Bennett, Dan Brouthers, Charlie Ganzel and Deacon White to the Boston Beaneaters for an estimated $30,000.
In 1890, Richardson and teammate Dan Brouthers played in the newly-formed Players' League, joining the Boston Reds. The pair helped the Reds win the first and only Players' League pennant with an 81-48 record.
Richardson was a strong supporter of the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players, the union that represented the players and organized the Players' League in response to unfair treatment by team owners. In January 1890, he spoke out against players like teammate John Clarkson who had joined the Brotherhood but remained with their old clubs. Richardson said he would remain loyal to the Players' League even if it could only pay him $10 a week and added: "I held up my hand and swore that I would stick to the brotherhood... I respect my word and regard my oath as sacred. You have no idea how hot it makes me to think of the way some of these players have acted."
Richardson played in the outfield for the Boston Players' League club, appearing in 124 games at the position. He compiled a .326 batting average in 1890 and led the Players' League with a career high of 146 RBIs. He also stole 42 bases and ranked among the league leaders with 13 home runs (2nd), 274 total bases (4th), 181 hits (5th), and 126 runs scored (10th).
At the end of the 1890 season, the Players' League disbanded, but the Boston Reds remained a major league club in 1891 as part of the American Association. Richardson again played in the outfield for the 1891 Reds, but he was limited to 74 games, His batting average fell by 71 points to .255, and his WAR rating of 1.0 was the lowest of his career to that time. He did not rank among the American Association's leaders in any major offensive or defensive category, though he ranked second in the league with a ratio of 39.7 at bats per strikeout. Baseball historian Bill James in 2001 ranked Richardson as the 39th-best second baseman in the history of baseball in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Richardson and his wife had a daughter, Dorothy, born in 1895. By 1905, Richardson and his wife had moved to German Flatts and later to Ilion, both in Herkimer County, New York, where he worked for the Remington Typewriter Company.
In late 1910 and early 1911, Richardson wrote about his baseball memories in a series of articles for the Hearst newspapers.
By 1930, Richardson was retired and living with his wife in Utica as boarders at the home of cement salesman, Robert C. Weaver. Richardson died in January 1931 at age 75 in Utica, New York. He was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in that city.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball runs-batted-in champions